I’m typing this as I’m sitting in my tent for our final day in Mzuzu, Malawi. Just like that, our third month on the Race has flown by. Malawi has been so good to us. Being my first time in Africa, I can see why people adore it. Our host, Pastor Moses and the Singini’s have been more than hospitable to us. Lake Malawi is one of the most beautiful bodies of water and is full of such a diverse fish population (the Floridian in me loved it). It was hilarious to shock locals by speaking the bit of Chichewa I knew while killing it in their local skirt-wrappy-thing.
At first, our time here was rather pleasant. We did tons of different ministries with Mzuzu Pentecostal Church. We went on house visits to encourage church members, took part in women’s ministry, hung with the youth, helped with their annual VBS, did door to door evangelism, attended weekly Bible studies, created an informational video, did a bit of manual labor, sung at each Sunday service, danced for the congregation, and shared testimonies all over the place. You name it, we did it. And it was great. We were able to come alongside all of their current ministries and make the most of our time together.
That was our first week in Mzuzu. That long list might sound like a lot of work, but we only did one or two of those things each day. About 4 hours of the day fell into our laps and we began digging into books, prayer, workout programs, journaling, etc. I came to love our schedule and the copious hours I could spend in a book, journaling, learning some guitar, or getting made fun of by the African women for my poor clothes-washing skills (hand-washing is not for the faint of heart).
Our last three weeks looked way different. And this was the challenging part for me. Their school came into session and we become their newest teachers/teacher aids. On our first day, their headmaster split us into different classrooms and Katelyn and I were assigned to the glorious 3-year-old room. Did I mention that there were TWENTY-FIVE of them in one classroom? They’re currently constructing another room to move half of them to, but I assume that this would have been a challenge for most trained educators.
Things I saw in our classroom: A girl running with a 3-foot long wooden stick in her mouth (from the yard), many biting children (it seems to be the best way to resolve conflict), one boy showing up with a lollipop and it getting passed around the whole class, many peed-pants, and one boy convincing the whole class that they were actually animals and we watched the class transform into the animal kingdom.
At first, my attitude was “Okay, I can handle this…just smile and keep them entertained.” After the first few days in, my attitude changed to, “These kids are monsters and pee on everything.” Thankfully, my teammates could see me struggling and encouraged me to keep going. Now being on the other side of it all, my mindset has changed once again to, “Thank you God for giving me the strength and patience…but I’d be okay if you never had me do that again!”
It might be a bit silly, but I consider this a personal victory. It may be a small feat in the grand scheme of life, but by the grace of God, I made it through (and honestly, began to enjoy) 3 weeks in a classroom with TWENTY-FIVE 3-year-olds. I’m sharper than ever on my ABC’s, numbers, colors, shapes, sizes, and songs…and I only have these three year olds to thank for that! But sincerely, I will miss being hugged at my knees each morning by all TWENTY-FIVE of them.
This month, our team really wanted to see God move in miraculous ways, so we prayed that we would see more answered prayers, healings, miracles, more of the Spirit, just more of Him. And we did.
One of the most powerful God stories took place yesterday, with just two days left in Mzuzu. During Sunday service, Esther had a word of knowledge that someone in attendance had a hearing issue and that God wanted to heal it, but no one spoke up. Yesterday, we did a house visit to a church member who was in church that day. She told us that she had muffled hearing for a while now and as she heard Esther speaking, she knew that it was God’s will to heal her. And now she is hearing perfectly clear. Our intention was to lay hands on the person and see him or her healed, but God did with His very own swag. It’s amazing what our God can do! Malawi was just the beginning of experiencing more of God’s power and our authority in Him.
